Talent Assessments Archives

The world we live in is becoming increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA), and the world of work in particular has borne the brunt of recent developments brought about by the global pandemic, and the need to adapt to the “new normal”. These characteristics of our new operating environments make it difficult for leaders, managers and employees to articulate their concerns, and can cause feelings of apprehension, fear and worry, resulting in heightened emotions. This, in turn, can lead to explosive situations, which could result in irreversible damage to individuals, teams and organizations. So, how can EQ bring change?

According to a study published by Gartner, emotional intelligence (EQ) accounts for more than 90% of a person’s performance and success in a leadership role. The Center for Creative Leadership also notes that 75% of careers are derailed for reasons related to emotional competencies, including inability to handle interpersonal problems; unsatisfactory team leadership during times of difficulty or conflict; or the inability to adapt to change or elicit trust.

“EQ is clearly a critical component in all workplace relationships, but what is often less clear is how organizations should go about ensuring that this ability is identified and developed in their people,” says Michelle Baron-Williamson, CEO of Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE).

“The first step is to assess the existing EQ levels of the current workforce. A thorough assessment should measure an individual’s self-awareness, as well as how they manage their own emotions, and apply this effectively when engaging with those around them. This includes the individual’s overall wellbeing, self-management and self-control, inclination to nurture relationships and have solid interpersonal relationships, as well as stress management.”

Gartner notes that one of the primary reasons for measuring the EQ of individuals is that in the drive to improve organizational decision-making capabilities, companies need to move EQ from the realm of personal competency to an enterprise-level discipline.

“The days of people working alone behind a desk, interacting only via formal, structured exchanges, are long gone,” explains Baron-Williamson. “We have moved to team-focused, project-based and inter-disciplinary environments that see people interact with others at various levels in their organization, several times a day. Teams are expected to perform and innovate as a unit and are measured by their ability to execute outputs effectively. This increased team interaction means more focus on emotional and social interaction, and on the individual’s ability to manage these for the benefit of the team, and greater organization.” MIE offers assessments that help determine an individual’s EQ levels and can help leaders and managers decide how best to support that individual to develop their EQ further.

“This investment in development will result in a more emotionally agile workforce that is able to work cohesively, connect emotionally and make better decisions,” concludes Baron-Williamson. “An organization’s culture has a direct impact on financial performance, and it is our responsibility as leaders to shape this culture. Tools such as EQ assessments are an excellent place to start.”

South Africa is well into the fifth month of the national lockdown measures implemented to combat the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). With a higher acceptance of the realities of our new normal, businesses are actively working on their recovery strategies – and recognizing that talent management remains a key component to this. Not only will the right talent, in the right positions, with the right support be critical to business recovery, but bringing the best possible graduate talent ‘into the fold’ enables longer-term success.

News of private sector retrenchments – together with the fact that students have largely not been able to attend classes this academic year – may lead one to believe that graduate opportunities for the remainder of 2020 will be limited. “However”, says Michelle Baron-Williamson, CEO of Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE), “businesses that offer graduate programmes, as part of their talent management strategy, are likely to continue with their plans for 2020-21, even if it is at a reduced scale. This highlights the need to appropriately assess graduate candidates to ensure businesses can still gain maximum impact from their respective programmes.”

Talent pipelines are still open “Graduate recruitment programmes are important for fast-tracking employees to a more senior level or bringing in new, young talent, for businesses that take a sustainable view of talent management. And we are still seeing these opportunities arise,” Baron-Williamson says.

In fact, according to the SAGEA Employer Benchmarking Survey 2020, a third of employers surveyed confirmed that their primary purpose in recruiting graduates is to fast-track them into a leadership development programme. The survey further qualified that the employers surveyed had on average received up to 2000 graduate applications for this year, with a quarter of employers receiving more than 5000 applications, each.

“Attracting the right graduates can often mean screening over 80 applications per vacancy and selecting graduates that are a good fit from both a skill set, and a corporate culture and values, point of view – which is already a challenge for many businesses,” indicates Baron-Williamson.

The right tools for the job MIE’s Graduate Solution is one example of a tool that recruiters can use to streamline their screening, assessment and selection processes. Coupled with specialist advise and support from the company’s Assessments professionals, such a solution can assist recruiters with early identification of key strengths and development areas, while also offering recruiters insights into each candidate’s potential performance metrics – to better assist recruiters and work teams with their candidate on-boarding and with putting the right support and career development structures in place.

“Bringing good entry-level talent into a business is still a key part of successful, sustainable talent management. I am confident that graduate opportunities will remain despite the challenges brought about by the novel pandemic. However, for businesses and graduates to get the most out of these programmes going forward, it will be necessary to put support in place that is adapted to the changed way of working, to supplement existing programmes and fast-track each candidate’s personal professional development in this ‘new normal’,” Baron-Williamson concludes.

EQ Assessments: Its Importance in a VUCA World

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